“It’s going to be long, drawn out, and bloody,” Josephine said.
“I’m sorry?”
“When she gets here.”
“But she has no army,” Guirguis said, just for kicks playing the devil’s advocate.
“Doesn’t matter. There’s too much baggage around that woman. It’ll get ugly.”
They were on a small hill a few miles from the highway under the sole tree. It was open along this part of the highway, offering a long viewshed. Reed was on near constant firewood duty, scouring the bare landscape for fuel for their fire. The smoke rose up from it and announced their presence to anyone who cared. They were far enough away from Colorado Springs – about 20 miles – that no help was available if needed. Raiders had increased in the region since Sara’s departure, and Guirguis made sure to keep a keen lookout at all times. The first sign of trouble would be Reed not returning.
Reed returned with an armful of wood.
“There’s people up there,” Reed said as he dropped the wood next to the fire. It kicked up dust from the barren ground.
Guirguis turned around in his makeshift seat, a pile of dead grass. “Where?”
“Up in the mountains. I saw smoke.”
“Show me.”
Reed took Guirguis a quarter mile away from camp to get a better vantage and pointed out the faint plumes rising into the sky from the mountains.
“Two fires. People are up there. Watching the watchers,” Reed suggested.
“Maybe. They’re pretty far off.”
Guirguis and Reed returned to their spot and described it to Josephine.
“We’re fine,” she said in response.
“Oh yeah?”
“Probably just raiders.”
Guirguis agreed and dropped it. It was telling, though. Josephine was from New Generation Cartel. Admittedly, she was different from what he’d come to expect from its members, who were fiercely loyal and dogmatic toward their cause.
Which led into the next thought. Guirguis had long suspected an arrangement between New Generation and the bands of raiders in the mountains. Her lack of concern might be that she wasn’t surprised. She knew it was going to happen. Raiders were there to ensure Guirguis didn’t back out of the deal.
Maybe.
Or, maybe she was simply foolhardy.
“We should move on,” Guirguis said.
“What? Then how will the other groups report to us?” Josephine argued.
“They’ll find us.”
So they packed up their small stash of supplies and went further south along the Interstate. Fountain Creek was flowing well, so water wasn’t an issue. He had hoped for better hunting, though. Jerky was getting tiresome. Long periods at observation posts required good food.
“Reed, we’ll hang back. You go ahead and look for some game,” Guirguis ordered.
“Okay,” Reed grumbled.
Guirguis and Josephine sat at the side of the road in the warm sun. It was in the fifties, but there was no breeze. Cool, but not bad. It was supposed to be a cold winter per Guirguis’ farmers. It hadn’t happened yet, though.
They watched Reed in the distance. When he was about a mile off, he left the road and trudged into the tall grass. He slowly made his way over the uneven terrain until he dropped behind a small hill and out of view.
A breeze kicked up and the grass undulated in waves. A few birds flew by.
“Remember the plan?” Guirguis asked, quietly, as he looked far into the distance down the Interstate.
“Which one?”
“The third.”
“I never guessed it.”
“That’s because there was no third plan. We’re about to figure it out.” Guirguis stood and kept his gaze south. Josephine gave him a quizzical look and then looked south as well. She saw what he saw. An army, about a thousand strong, on the horizon.
Chapter 20
There is no immunity, there is only death.
-Notes from Victoria studies on Zombie behavior
It had taken longer than expected for Hog and the remaining Martyrs to reach the mountains above Colorado Springs. It seemed like every time they made progress, a herd would get in the way.
They were near John’s old homestead, running low on food, and trying to get information. Lee expected John to come around a tree at any point and rejoin them, but it never happened. It couldn’t happen, she tried to remind herself.
“Every time we ask about John Taylor’s house, people go cold on us,” Hog noted.
“It’s not good,” Carla agreed. Everyone was antsy. After running into the herd in the plains east of Hartsel they were a little shaken up. They’d been surrounded, but then somehow a gap opened. Now they were near Divide, exhausted and in search of Aaron.
“I think there’s another house south of the highway. I heard wood chopping earlier from over there,” Hog said. “Carla, just you and me this time. It might be less intimidating to strangers.” Cecil, Jamed, and Lee hardly complained, spent as they were from hiking around these mountains.
“Alright, let’s go,” Carla held out her hand for Hog to help her back to her feet. Hog pulled her up, grunting.
“Gettin' old. These mountain’s will do that.”
Carla and Hog walked toward where he thought he’d heard the chopping. Only Hog had a pistol. Carla had her fists of fury, even though nothing about her was feeling particularly furious these days. Everything just ached.
The two found cart tracks leading from the highway and followed them. They were well worn. Someone was still using them. A cold gust of wind kicked up through the pine trees, chilling them both to the bone. They’d acquired some elk skins in northern New Mexico, but they weren’t adequate.
The cart track curved along a ridgeline and then dropped down to a cabin. It was small, with a wisp of smoke coming out of the chimney. The wind was blowing away from them, explaining why they hadn’t smelled it earlier.
“Well, shall we?” Hog asked.
“You first. I’m expecting gunshots any second.”
“What? You can survive a zombie-infested skyscraper but you can’t handle a single cottage?”
“Nope. I can’t.”
Hog, always the gentleman, took the lead down the hill toward the cabin. As they got closer there was another smell in the air, cooking meat.
“That smells good,” Hog whispered.
“It’s probably humans on a spit.”
“You need to learn to lighten up.”
Hog stopped at the front door and took a deep breath before raising his large hand and knocking on the door.
No response.
Hog knocked again and they heard a faint noise from inside.
“Hello? We’re friends. We’re looking for where John Taylor lives.”
Still nothing on the other side.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Carla urged. She didn’t like the situation. The sun was setting and the trees made it even darker. She felt hemmed in.
“We’re trying to find his son, Aaron. We’re friends of John. My name is Hog, and this is Carla.”
There was a little more sound, and then finally, a small voice from behind the door.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” It sounded like a young woman, slightly weak.
“Hello! Well, I knew Aaron’s brother, Mark. Umm, let me think. Mark had a little piece of his ear missing. John told me it was from when he fell in a pile of dead branches when he was little.”
They heard the latch on the door move, and then the sound of a large metal bar being pulled back.
A young woman, maybe 17, was at the door. She was pale, frightened, and pregnant. Her eyes looked tired and careworn.
“Aaron’s here. I’m his wife.”
Cecil, Lee, and Jamed joined Hog and Carla in the cabin to warm up and share a meager stew that Sophia, the young woman, provided. Aaron was not in the cabin. She was alone, in fact. She’d known about Mark’s missing piece of ear because Aaron had tol
d numerous stories about his brother.
“Where is Mark?” Sophia asked innocently.
“Well… we should maybe wait until Aaron gets back to explain. Where is Aaron?” Carla asked.
“There’s been a lot of strangers in the woods, lately. They’re all looking for John Taylor. Aaron and the other men are on patrols. These strangers, they’re not…trustworthy.” She looked at the five people she’d foolishly let in the door based on trivia about Mark’s ear. Her hand had a slight tremor in it. Carla looked at it and then to Hog, who didn’t notice as he swallowed large mouthfuls of the stew.
“Here, you can have my stew. I’m not hungry,” Carla lied to the girl as she handed her the bowl. Sophia tried not to look eager, but she happily took the extra helping. She was eating for two.
Hog paused his revelry in the hot meal. “These strangers are looking for the ‘it.’ They think it’s at John’s or he knows where it is.”
“What is ‘it’?” Sophia asked. “It would be nice to know what these folks are after.” She went into a coughing fit that lasted a little longer than Carla felt good about. She looked to Lee, whose face had the same concerned look. The other martyrs approached.
Hog was about to explain when the front door opened slowly to reveal a young man pointing a rifle at the closest person, who happened to be Cecil.
“Don’t move.” The young man was dirty and on edge. Five strangers were surrounding his pregnant wife. “You, fatty, get away from the woman.”
“Hey now…” Hog protested.
“No, Aaron, no…these people aren’t…”
“Quiet, Soph, I’ll take care of this.” He stepped through the doorway with his back against the interior wall. “Everybody out.”
“You look like your father,” Lee said. She was trying to put the young man at ease. It had the reverse effect.
“Oh, yeah? Well, he’s dead. So, I know you’re lying. Lots of liars around here, lately.”
“We know your dad, I fought with him,” Lee said.
“Listen. I told you all to stand and get out of here. I won’t ask again!”
Hog and the Martyrs stood and walked toward the door. Once they were outside, it shut behind them and they heard the metal bar slide shut. Aaron erupted at Sophia for letting strangers in. The group outside looked bleakly at each other. They had not expected any of this. The sun was almost behind the mountains. Small flakes of snow fell.
“Well, shoot,” Jamed said. “At least we got some food. Let’s blow.”
“No, we’re not leaving without him,” Lee said.
“Didn’t you just see what happened?!”
“His wife is sick. She hides it, but she’s not well. They need our help,” Carla said.
“They don’t want our help!”
“Tough.” Hog stormed up to the door and banged on it. “Hey! Your father is headed here! Let us in!”
Aaron didn’t respond.
Hog didn’t want to bring up Mark, but he did. “Aaron, we know what happened to your brother.”
There was a muffled conversation on the other side of the door, and then the metal bar slid back and the door opened a crack. Aaron stared stonily through it.
“Oh yeah. What happened to him?” Aaron asked.
“Well, um…” Hog cleared his throat. “John travelled all the way to the canal to find him. On the way back north they were trying to get to safety. A walker bit Mark…. Your father…” Hog looked down at his feet, unable to look at Aaron. He wished he had some other details to provide.
“Figures.”
“What?” Hog looked up, startled.
“Figures that he died. I always assumed they both were dead. So, it’s not really news.”
“Aaron, don’t let your dad hear you say that. He’s devastated.”
“Good. It’s his fault.” Aaron said it without blinking.
“It’s not! You don’t understand – those walkers! There were millions!”
“If it wasn’t that, it would have been something else. He was always gonna die. Our family is cursed. Now, Sophia is sick. With a baby on top of that. It’s all John’s fault. He let Mom die, he let Mark die.”
Hog heard a slight tremor in Aaron’s voice, betraying his pain. Hog understood that pain. He’d carried it, himself, a long time. Blaming others for his wife…
“John did everything for you,” Hog began.
“Then where has he been?! Where is he?! It’s been a long time since he’s been here to do everything for me.”
“Aaron, you can’t be like that toward your own dad. He’s the only family you’ve got.”
“Her family looks out for me now,” Aaron referred to Sophia. He slammed the door and the bar slid shut.
Hog stood there, looking at the door. He felt heavy, weighed down by sorrow. He turned and looked at the rest of the group. They were shivering. Hog started walking back toward the road and away from the house.
They made camp close to the highway. Cecil and Jamed tended the fire while everyone huddled around it in silence.
“We’ll head down the mountain tomorrow,” Hog said.
“What about Aaron?” Carla asked.
“That will have to sort itself out. He’s trying hard to hate his dad. John will probably be here soon. Let the boy try and say he isn’t glad to see John to his face.”
They ran an alternating lookout schedule, never trusting Cecil and Jamed together, as they always dozed off. In the morning a fine dusting of snow covered the ground. The sun came out and quickly melted it.
“To Cheyenne Mountain,” Hog said.
◆◆◆
Ellie, Sal, Chambers and crew looked over the plains to the north side of Colorado Springs. They’d finally made it. Per the typical script they’d lost their horses long ago. They needed the food. They were currently hiding in some trees and spying the route into the city.
“Okay, how are we gonna get across there?” Sal asked, referring to the five-mile trek across open territory.
“Walk,” Chambers replied airly.
“Walk?! There are eyes all over that valley! See that depression over there? Guys probably hiding in it. Eyes! Those junipers? More eyes!”
“I think you might be a little paranoid.”
“Your mom is a little paranoid!”
“My mom?” Chambers’ voice was chilly.
“Yes, your mom,” Sal said, looking away. Chambers went silent and threw his hands up before walking off.
“C-C-Chamber’s mom is dead,” Ellie noted.
Sal hung his head. “It’s just a saying…Wait, look!”
Ellie scanned the large area, but shook her head.
“Over, back behind those rocks, there’s movement. I swear!”
Ellie squinted and held her hand over her eyes to block out the sun. She studied the rocks. It might have been a person, but there was a lot of grass moving, too.
“There! Again!” he pointed. The other men were looking as well, but quickly lost interest.
“A-a-are you talking about the dark spot?”
“Yes! The dark spot, that’s a person. I have excellent vision.”
“T-t-then why was I looking at the imagery?”
“It’s grunt work, El. I do the strategic decision-making. Well, used to. I’m broken, now, remember.”
Ellie scrunched her lips.
“I’ll be worse than broken if we can’t get into the Springs.”
“W-w-why is it so important we come here, again?”
Sal wasn’t going to explain the mysteries of “it” again, so he simply mumbled something and brushed aside the question.
“Lying, I’m always lying…” he mumbled.
“W-w-what?” Ellie asked.
“Nothing.”
They spent the night under those trees with no fire and constant lookouts. They shivered together in a huddled ball, toughing it out until a couple hours before sunrise. That was when they would make their move. Tyler sometimes sang at night, usually low and omin
ous stories about the past, but tonight he was silent. Chambers, too, was uncharacteristically quiet. Sal motioned subtly toward Ellie. She slipped into sleep and tipped over into his space. The others nodded to one another. Tyler started singing quieter. Ellie was leaning against Sal for real now. He readjusted and gently stood up to carefully rest her on the ground. She made a snorting sound and they froze, but then she went quiet, back into a slumber. Ray put a few extra blankets on her before they crept away from the camp and up toward the mountains.
Ellie stirred a couple hours later. Despite the blankets, she woke up shivering.
“H-h-hey!” she sat up, noticing she was alone.
She stood, wrapping the blankets around herself, and scanned the surrounding darkness. No one in sight.
A blood-curdling howl broke through the silence.
It was close. In the valley below. Another howl echoed above her position.
Ellie reached for the pistol in her belt. It was gone. She looked back to where the howl had come from and saw the small bright dots of its eyes moving toward her, reflecting the moonlight. They sped up, running now. Ellie turned to run, but there was one behind her, too. The one nearest to her jumped, tackling her. She was pinned on her back, its white teeth bared in her face.
The fire next to her kicked up bright. Sparks sprayed all over them.
The wolf started coughing violently, rubbing at its nose with its paw. It stumbled off Ellie and began retching. Two mice came out of its mouth and scurried off. Then the wolves were gone. Ellie sat up, mystified. Something wasn’t right.
Then everything shifted to daytime. It was a sunrise, with the sun just peeking over the horizon. The ground was moving with living things everywhere. Deer, elk, rabbits, birds, everything. Everywhere she looked there were animals walking about, grazing. They all simultaneously looked up. Something was coming. The wolves! The herds of animals sprinted off as the predators stormed after them. The ground caught fire wherever the wolves landed with their paws, leaving only a black, charred ground with nothing alive. Nothing would ever live here again, she thought.
Something did come, though. Two naked humans walking hand in hand. A man and a woman.
100 A.Z. (Book 3): The Mountain Page 15
